St. Patrick’s Day breakfast features music, roasts, and a surprise Dunkin’ ad parody

The crowd tucked in to a breakfast of eggs, potatoes, sausages, and pastries, sipping orange juice and coffee as they enjoyed live music, and watched political leaders swap digs and quips, along with self-deprecating jokes.

The event drew a who’s who of local and state leaders. Seated at the front table were US Senator Elizabeth Warren, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Congressman Stephen Lynch, state Senate president Karen Spilka, Mayor Michelle Wu of Boston, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden, state Auditor Diana DiZoglio, and members of the Boston City Council and the Legislature.

They were later joined by Healey and Driscoll, who made a splash in head-to-toe “DunKings” tracksuits and pink bucket hats.

They declared themselves the “DunQueens,” a parody of the Super Bowl commercial featuring Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Tom Brady, recreating several bits from the ad.

“To Ben, to Matt, to Tom, just reminding everybody: Now, Massachusetts runs on DunQueens!” Healey said, referencing the many women representing the state in prominent political positions.

Former Massachusetts governor Jane Swift, the first woman to lead the state, also made an appearance as the third member of the squad. Healey and Driscoll offered self-deprecating jokes on the public’s opinion of their work to address problems plaguing the MBTA, the rising cost of housing, and the state’s standoff with the town of Milton.

“You know, look, when all else fails, we just pardon everybody; marijuana pardons for everybody,” Healey joked in a Boston accent, to laughter and claps from the crowd.

Some of the sharpest digs of the event came from Spilka, taking aim at everyone from former governor Charlie Baker to Healey, who no longer makes her out-of-state travel plans public.

“How about [Driscoll’s] selfie game? Everywhere she goes, selfie, selfie, it’s great,” Spilka said. “What she won’t tell you is that it’s actually just a paper trail to show that somebody from the team is in the state.”

She also targeted John Deaton, the cryptocurrency attorney running as a Republican to challenge Warren for her Senate seat.

“His candidacy is probably the biggest joke here today,” said Spilka. “I think he has about as much of a path to victory as an IVF embryo in Alabama.”

Spilka ended with a dig at DiZoglio, who is pushing to get an initiative on the 2024 ballot that would allow her office to audit the Legislature. She suggested that DiZoglio should investigate the rumors and conspiracy theories surrounding British princess Kate Middleton’s absence from the public eye in recent months.

“Instead of wasting taxpayer money and auditing the already audited Legislature, all of us here chipped in to buy you a plane ticket to London to find out what’s happening,” said Spilka. “However there wasn’t enough donations, so it’s a one-way ticket,” drawing laughter, cheers, and gasps from the audience.

Wu weathered a fair number of jokes at her expense, including quips about increased traffic due to Wu’s push for more bike and bus lanes, controversy about a mistakenly sent email for an “Electeds of Color” Christmas party, and pushback over her plans to redevelop White Stadium and bring the Boston Planning and Development Agency under City Hall’s purview.

In her speech, Wu delivered a few digs of her own.

Referring to Groundhog Day, where spring is said to come early if a groundhog sees its shadow, she said Massachusetts mayors have a similar rule.

“If a mayor sees the governor and the lieutenant governor at events in your town, that means six more days until your community gets a new migrant shelter,” Wu said.

She also joked that the new contract with the Police Department included helmets “in case they encounter any playground slides citywide,” and claimed she had affected the city’s weather.

“A few years ago at this event, I made a joke comparing protesters outside my house to snowflakes,” said Wu. “The protesters were so offended at being compared to snowflakes that they sued me after the breakfast, that’s true. But what went unreported is that the snowflakes got so offended at being compared to protesters, we haven’t had a snowstorm in two years.”

A different protest was seen just before the breakfast. A handful of restaurant owners and employees from the North End held signs outside of the event in the morning to express frustration with Wu’s restrictions on outdoor dining in the neighborhood.

Aside from the political jabs and roasts, speakers celebrated the long history and contributions of the Irish community in Boston.

“The Irish American immigrant story is the story of Boston and the American dream,” said Wu. “And so today we honor the sacrifice and determination from generations of new immigrants who built our city and continue to make Boston the best city in the world. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!”

Niki Griswold can be reached at niki.griswold@globe.com. Follow her @nikigriswold.